Springfield city council plans to relocate this Madonna to a new downtown site, "National Road Commons Park." Dedication is set for July 4, 2011. It will still be on the path of the original National Road.

[upde, 11/20/2010]

Madonna of the Trail

She's facing south. Harry Truman attended the dedication, July 4, 1928, of this, the first of 12 identical Madonnas to be donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Two sidelights to the statue:

1) On the east side is a plaque commemorating the nearby battle in August 1780, Clark led a retaliatory force that won a victory near the Shawnee village of Pekowee,approx. 3 mi. s.w. of the statue.

2) On the west side is a plaque acknowledging this spot as "the end of the road" in the 1830s. A tax revolt by Eastern states ended the federal funding of the National Road.